Abstract
This study adopted a quasi-experimental design with the support of qualitative information to investigate the impact of the mobile microscope on students’ science learning outcomes in a laboratory setting. The duration of the educational experiment was 5 weeks. Research participants comprised 56 third graders from two different classes at a public elementary school in Taiwan. Two classes with an equal number of students formed the experimental and control groups. Students in the experimental group employed mobile microscopes to support their scientific inquiries, whereas students in the control group used only tablet computers to facilitate their science learning. A standardized test was developed to measure students’ basic understanding of botany. Additionally, semi-structured concept mapping was employed as an alternative non-standardized test to evaluate students’ natural science learning. The quantitative findings indicated a significant instructional effect in the students’ concept mapping but not in the standardized test. The qualitative results revealed that mobile microscopes might motivate students to actively engage in knowledge discussion and sharing during plant observation.
Highlights
This study adopted a quasi-experimental design with the support of qualitative information to investigate the impact of the mobile microscope on students’ science learning outcomes in a laboratory setting
This study investigated the impact of mobile microscopes on students’ science learning in a laboratory setting
The quantitative statistical analysis demonstrated no significant difference between students with or without the mobile microscope in the standardized test
Summary
This study adopted a quasi-experimental design with the support of qualitative information to investigate the impact of the mobile microscope on students’ science learning outcomes in a laboratory setting. Because of the wide availability of mobile devices (smart phones or tablet computers) in educational settings, several studies have explored the integration of mobile learning into classrooms and confirmed the utility of mobile learning as an effective learning strategy for promoting student learning [1,2] Instructional benefits such as active learning for knowledge development and increased learning motivation were frequently reported during students’ learning process [3,4] according to Zydney and Warner’s systematic review of mobile learning [5], a majority of the related literature has emphasized the software component (i.e., application integration), and only a few studies has investigated the use of hardware tools in mobile devices for various teaching purposes. The current study integrated mobile microscopes into an elementary school’s science curriculum to investigate the effect of mobile microscopes on young students’ learning effectiveness
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